A Ryanair passenger filmed a baggage handler carelessly throwing luggage to the ground

A Ryanair passenger filmed a baggage handler at Manchester Airport throw passengers’ luggage onto a conveyor cart with seemingly no regard for the contents inside.

In the footage, a total of five bags are thrown onto the ground before the baggage claim worker moves away from the conveyor line.

This short video set led to public statements from Manchester Airport, Ryanair, and the third-party baggage claim handler, Swissport.

“Manchester Airport will not tolerate the kinds of behaviour shown yesterday by the employees of the ground handling company Swissport,” Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan said in a statement released on Facebook.

A Ryanair passenger filmed a baggage handler at Manchester Airport throw passengers’ luggage onto a conveyor cart with seemingly no regard for the contents inside.

According to Metro UK, Elizabeth Evans, 28, of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, caught the employee throwing multiple suitcases onto a conveyor car after her Ryanair flight landed in Manchester from Malaga on the morning of September 20.

Evans was preparing to de-board the plane when she began filming the employee as he handled the luggage.

In a video that is now featured on BBC and on YouTube, Evans can be heard saying, “That’s mine, yeah,” as she watches her own pink suitcase be thrown by the baggage claim worker, eventually sliding off the cart and onto the ground.

In the footage, a total of five bags are thrown on the ground before the baggage claim worker moves away from the conveyor line.

This short video set off a public relations firestorm among Manchester Airport, Ryanair, and the third-party baggage claim handler.

In response to one Twitter user’s complaint, Manchester Airport’s Twitter feed issued a statement stating that the airport itself doesn’t handle baggage, but that “each airline employs their own baggage handler,” and the handler employed by Ryanair, in this case, was the company “Swissport.”

Hi Ryan, we're aware of this video and are disappointed to have seen this unacceptable baggage handling. This has been raised with Swissport, the baggage handler in question, directly. Baggage is not handled by Manchester Airport, each airline employs their own baggage handler.

Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan then released a more forceful statement on the airport’s Facebook page that said: “Manchester Airport will not tolerate the kinds of behaviour shown yesterday by the employees of the ground handling company Swissport. We are clear that it is completely unacceptable for our customer’s belongings to be treated in this way by any company operating on our site.”

Swissport is an international third-party airport service company, whose website claims they have served 132 million customers in the first half of 2018. Their listed business activities include ground handling, cargo services, fuelling, and aviation security.

In a statement to Business Insider, a Swissport spokesperson said, “We are disappointed by the video footage circulating on social media. We apologise for the behaviour of this individual, which is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Swissport employees are well-trained in baggage handling and we will use this incident to remind all staff of our duty of care with passengers’ belongings.”

The statement went on to add that Swissport is conducting a full investigation into the matter and that the company views the employee’s behaviour as “an isolated incident.”

In their statement to Business Insider, a Ryanair spokesperson said, “We’ve asked our handling agent, Swissport, to take the necessary steps to ensure this does not recur.”